Scope 1: Direct Emissions
Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that your company owns or controls. These are the emissions you have the most direct control over, making them a natural starting point for emissions management.
GHG Protocol Reference
The following content is extracted from the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard.
View original GHG Protocol Standard (PDF)Understanding Scope 1 Emission Sources
Stationary Combustion
Emissions from burning fuels in equipment that doesn't move. This is often the largest source of Scope 1 emissions for many companies.
- • Boilers for heating buildings
- • Furnaces for manufacturing
- • Backup generators
- • On-site power generation
Mobile Combustion
Emissions from fuel burned in transportation equipment that your company owns or controls.
- • Company-owned vehicles (cars, trucks, vans)
- • Forklifts and industrial equipment
- • Company aircraft
- • Company vessels
Process Emissions
Emissions released during physical or chemical processes in manufacturing, not from fuel combustion.
- • Chemical reactions in manufacturing
- • Cement and lime production
- • Metal processing and smelting
- • Petrochemical processing
Fugitive Emissions
Unintentional releases and leaks of greenhouse gases. Often overlooked but can be significant, especially for refrigerants.
- • Refrigerant leaks from HVAC systems
- • Natural gas leaks from pipelines
- • SF₆ from electrical equipment
- • Equipment and valve leaks
Defining Your Organizational Boundary
To determine which emission sources fall under Scope 1, companies must choose either an operational control or financial control approach. Under operational control, you report 100% of emissions from operations you control. Under financial control, you report based on your share of economic interest. Most companies use operational control as it aligns with managerial responsibility.
Bio-based Emissions: Reported Separately
CO₂ emissions from burning biomass and biofuels (such as wood, bioethanol, biodiesel, or biogas) are treated differently from fossil fuel emissions in GHG reporting. These bio-based CO₂ emissions are reported separately and are not included in Scope 1 totals.
Why separate reporting?
Biogenic CO₂ is considered part of the natural carbon cycle—the carbon released was recently absorbed from the atmosphere by plants. This is different from fossil fuels, which release carbon that has been stored for millions of years. However, other GHGs from biofuel combustion (CH₄, N₂O) are still included in Scope 1.
Examples of bio-based fuels:
- • Wood and wood pellets
- • Bioethanol and biodiesel
- • Biogas and biomethane
- • Agricultural residues
Reporting requirement:
Bio-based CO₂ emissions must be tracked and reported as a separate memo item outside of Scope totals, ensuring transparency while acknowledging their different climate impact.
Selko Emissions
Scope 1 emissions are the most straightforward to calculate as they come from sources your company directly controls. Selko uses a single, standardized approach for Scope 1 calculations based on activity data.
Emission Factor Method
Activity-data
Based on the amount of energy consumed measured in weight, volume, or energy units (e.g., liters of fuel, kWh, cubic meters of gas)
Activity data multiplied by emission factors provides accurate Scope 1 calculations